One of the greatest foibles of human civilization, slavery has always been part of human (hi)story. Slavery is mentioned in the code of Hammurabi, widely regarded as the oldest codified laws and written 4,000 years ago by the King of Hammurabi.

They are currently on display in the Louvre, Paris. A few of them are below:

Law #196: "If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye. If one break a man's bone, they shall break his bone. If one destroy the eye of a freeman or break the bone of a freeman he shall pay one gold mina. If one destroy the eye of a man's slave or break a bone of a man's slave he shall pay one-half his price."

Law # 252 : If he kill a man's slave, he shall pay one-third of a mina.

Law # 282 : If a slave say to his master: "You are not my master," if they convict him his master shall cut off his ear

In ancient india, it appears that slavery was an established institution. It is mentioned in ancient texts such as the Arthashastra, the Manusmriti and the Mahabharata.

Kautilya's Arthashastra dedicates the thirteenth chapter on dasas, in his third book on law. This Sanskrit document from the Maurya Empire period (4th century BCE).

Slavery was common in Egyptian, Roman and Greek civilizations as well.

Slavery is like Hydra, the serpent like monster in Greek mythology. If you cut off one hydra head, two more would grow back in its place.

In modern times, slavery resurfaced in 1441 when the Portuguese captains Antão Gonçalves captured 12 Africans in Cabo Branco (modern Mauritania) and took them to Portugal as slaves. Around that times, it was fairly prevalent.

By the time, slavery was abolished in the British empire in 1840s, more than 11 Million human beings were taken from Africa as slaves. More than 60% of them worked on the sugarcane plantations in the Caribbean and south america.

Slavery was reborn as Indenture labor where more than a million Indians were sent to labor on the sugarcane plantations in British colonies.

The shameful reality is that it exists today. About 40 million people are estimated to be trapped in modern slavery worldwide: 1 in 4 of them are children.

It might be surprising to note that it exists in all countries globally.  The Walk Free Foundation reported in 2018 that slavery in wealthy Western societies is much more prevalent than previously known, in particular the United States and Great Britain, which have 403,000 and 136,000 slaves respectively.

Lot of things that we take for granted : Smartphones to Sweets to Sweatshirts. All of them have a dark side. There are millions of people out there who live and work in conditions unimaginable so that we have these conveniences.

Slavery in modern times is in varied forms : Forced labor / Sex trafficking / Human trafficking / Forced marriage and debt bondage.

At a fundamental level, the form could be different, but the symptoms are similar. Some of them are:
- No financial freedom - Cannot negotiate any wages or even complain against incorrect payments
- No freedom to change employers
- No freedom to move around or leave a town or a country
- No freedom to leave an abusive relationship
- No ability to complain or get legal protection

Many rules have been passed, but they exist on paper only. It needs YOU and I as Individuals to Reflect - Question - Help to stop this disease.

Shame.